At the recent NSEA SJ competion the 85cm class had a triple as the last combination. There was a water tray under the middle element. Does anyone think that is a bit of an unfair question?SO many horses stopped there including Max. He had jumped such a lovely, confident round to that point and jumped into the first element on a perfect stride nicely forward. Then he saw the water tray and absolutely slammed on the brakes. Daughter was hurt when she was thrown into the fence. Lots of others fell there too.A water tray at the first element of a combination or at the 2nd element of a related distance would be fine - gives the pony time to ask a question and the rider time to answer! But this just took Max totally by surprise and there was absoolutely nothing daughter could do to rescue the situation.My daughter has been out of action since then so Max was ridden by the YO's daughter (a semi-pro show jumper) who said his confidence has been knocked and he is now approaching every jump suspiciously. Maybe I am just under-estimating what a pony at 80/85 should be confident with. But I have never seen it before so was curious as to what others think. And also how to help Max other than the obvious take a step or three back and rebuild slowly. Eventually he will need to jump whatever he is presented to regardles of whether it looks odd so how do you teach horses to be bold over unfamiliar fences or things that they see late (ditches etc)?
06-30-2018, 10:36 AM
Bit annoyed at this course building!
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